Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi

Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi aka Abu Ali al-Harithi (Arabic: أبو علي الحاريثي ) (died November 3, 2002) was an Al-Qaeda operative and a citizen of Yemen who is suspected of having been involved in the October 2000 USS Cole bombing.[1] He was killed by the CIA during a covert targeted killing mission in Yemen on November 3, 2002. The CIA used an Predator drone to shoot the Hellfire missile that killed al-Harithi and five other Al-Qaeda operatives as they rode in a vehicle 100 miles (160 km) east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.[2]

Al-Harithi was traveling with Kamal Derwish (Ahmed Hijazi), a US citizen, and Derwish's killing was the first known case of the U.S. government killing a U.S. citizen during the "War on Terror".[3] It was also the first Predator attack outside of Afghanistan.[1]

The George W. Bush administration, citing the authority of a presidential finding that permitted worldwide covert actions against Osama bin Laden's network, considered al-Harithi and his traveling party a justifiable military target.[1][3] Nonetheless, the targeted killing of al-Harithi was the subject of debate on its legality.[4]